1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the field of framed structure assembly. More specifically, the invention relates to a device and method for assembling wooden pallets including a jig, or carrier, that facilitates the assembly.
2. Related Art
Wooden pallets are widely used for transporting and storing goods. A pallet is constructed by nailing a series of slats to transversely positioned stringers. Typically pallets have slats nailed to the top and bottom of the stringers although they may have slats nailed only to the top. Pallets may come in different sizes; the number of stingers and slats used and the size of the material used to make the pallets may vary, providing variety in the possible sizes for pallets.
Fabrication, or assembly, of pallets is sometimes done by hand. However, automatic, or semi-automatic, fabrication is more economical for large-scale pallet construction. A number of pallet assembly systems have been used. Many of the systems require manual positioning of the individual pallet components and many are capable of assembling/nailing only one side of pallet. Therefore, the pallet must be flipped during assembly to complete both sides of a double-sided pallet.
Another device that does provide for nailing of the top and bottom of a double-sided pallet and is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,388 uses a single slat hopper which requires that the pallet be moved back and forth beneath the single hopper to assemble a single pallet. Accordingly, the device may assemble only a single pallet at any one time, making the device relatively slow, and uses a relatively complicated jig, or carrier, that has trip-dogs that pull slats from the hopper as the jig moves past the hopper.
Thus, despite the use of the prior art features, there remains a need for a pallet assembly device and method that is relatively simple and that provides for relatively fast, high volume pallet assembly.